Tag Archives: Elvis Presley

August 24: Arthur Crudup Birthday – Listen to 3 Bob Dylan Cover versions of “That’s All Right Mama”

Well, now that’s all right, mama
That’s all right for you
That’s all right mama, anyway you do
But, that’s all right, that’s all right
That’s all right now mama, anyway you do

Arthur William “Big Boy” Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs “That’s All Right” (1946), “My Baby Left Me” and “So Glad You’re Mine”, later recorded by Elvis Presley and other artists

Continue reading August 24: Arthur Crudup Birthday – Listen to 3 Bob Dylan Cover versions of “That’s All Right Mama”

Bob Dylan: Peace In The Valley (Thomas A. Dorsey)

Well, I’m tired and so weary
But I must go along
Till the lord comes and calls, calls me away, oh yeah
Well the morning’s so bright
And the Lamb is the light
And the night, night is as black as the sea, oh yes.

(There will be peace in the valley for me, some day)

“Peace in the Valley” is a 1937 song written by Thomas A. Dorsey, originally for Mahalia Jackson. The song became a hit in 1951 for Red Foley and the Sunshine Boys, reaching No. 7 on the Country & Western Best Seller chart. It was among the first gospel recordings to sell one million copies. Foley’s version was a 2006 entry into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.
~Wikipedia

Important recordings of ‘Peace In The Valley’ include the Red Foley version that established the song, Elvis Presley’s 1957 single, and Johnny Cash’s 1969 recording, which was included on the massively successful album “Johnny Cash At San Quentin”.
Other recordings of note are those by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and the Original Five Blind Boys of Mississippi. By the time Dylan came to perform the song in 1989 he would surely have known all of the above recordings.
~Derek Barker (The Songs He didn’t Write)

Red Foley:

Continue reading Bob Dylan: Peace In The Valley (Thomas A. Dorsey)

Bob Dylan: Something (George Harrison)

bob dylan george harrison 1971

 

Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me

I’ve always liked the way George Harrison plays guitar—restrained and good.
~Bob Dylan (to Ron Rosenbaum, Nov 1977)

He was a giant, a great, great soul, with all the humanity, all the wit and humor, all the wisdom, the spirituality, the common sense of a man and compassion for people. He inspired love and had the strength of a hundred men. He was like the sun, the flowers and the moon and we shall miss him enormously. The world is a profoundly emptier place without him.
~Bob Dylan (George Harrison’s Obituary, 30 Nov 2001)

From Wikipedia:

Released 6 October 1969 (US)
31 October 1969 (UK)
Format 7″
Recorded 25 February, 16 April, 2 May, 15 August 1969
EMI Studios, London
Genre Rock, pop
Length 2:59
Label Apple
Writer(s) George Harrison
Producer George Martin
Certification 2x Platinum (RIAA)

Something” is a song by the Beatles, featured on their 1969 album Abbey Road. It was released that same year as a double A-sidedsingle with another track from the album, “Come Together”. “Something” was the first Beatles song written by lead guitarist George Harrison to appear as an A-side, and the only song written by him to top the US charts while he was in the band. The single was also one of the first Beatles singles to contain tracks already available on an LP album.

beatles something

John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the band’s principal songwriters, both praised “Something” as one of the best songs Harrison had written, or that the group had to offer. As well as critical acclaim, the single achieved commercial success, topping the Billboard charts in the United States and making the top five in the United Kingdom. The song has been covered by over 150 artists, making it the second-most covered Beatles song after “Yesterday”. Artists who have covered the song include Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, James Brown, Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Ike & Tina Turner, The Miracles, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker,Isaac Hayes, Julio Iglesias, Mina, and Phish. Harrison is quoted as saying that his favourite version of the song was James Brown’s, which he kept in his personal jukebox.
… read more over @ wikipedia

I don’t want to leave her now
You know I believe and how

Somewhere in her smile she knows
That I don’t need no other lover
Something in her style that shows me

I don’t want to leave her now
You know I believe and how

Other notable versions:

Something:

Continue reading Bob Dylan: Something (George Harrison)

11 good cover versions of Tomorrow Is A Long Time by Bob Dylan


tialt 2
Tomorrow Is a Long Time” is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan. Dylan’s version first appeared on the album Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. IIcompilation, released in 1971.

Dylan’s officially released version of the song is a live recording from his April 12, 1963, concert at New York’s Town Hall. Dylan had recorded the song in December 1962 as a demo for M. Witmark & Sons, his publishing company. This particular recording, long available as a bootleg, was released by Columbia in 2010 on The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964. A studio version of the song, an outtake from the June 1970 sessions for New Morning, has also been bootlegged.

It is one of Bob Dylan’s most covered songs.

This is my favorite cover, Thåström – Bara Om Min Älskade Väntar (audio in Swedish):

And 10 more very good versions:

According to Ernst Jorgensen’s’ book Elvis Presley: A Life In Music – The Complete Recording Sessions, Presley first heard the song via Charlie McCoy, who had previously participated in the Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde sessions. McCoy played the 1965 Odetta album Odetta Sings Dylan before an Elvis session and Presley “had become taken with ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time.'”

Dylan has said that this was his favorite cover of any of his songs. He once said that Presley’s cover of the song was “the one recording I treasure the most.”

Elvis Presley – Tomorrow is a long time (audio):

Continue reading 11 good cover versions of Tomorrow Is A Long Time by Bob Dylan

October 15: Fela Kuti was born in 1938

Fela-Kuti

October 15: Fela Kuti was born in 1938

Music is the weapon of the future
~Fela Anikulapo Kuti

Imagine Che Guevara and Bob Marley rolled into one person and you get a sense of Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti.
— Herald Sun, February 2011

Continue reading October 15: Fela Kuti was born in 1938